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Darth Metalmute, We are sort of on the same page. But Leia was 23 in ROTJ And had Jaina 5 years after, during Heir to the Empire. In 2015the Carrie will bbe 60 years old, thus Jaina 32. Jacen died when the twins were 27. (Leia age 55)

Anakin Solo died 3 years before that. It can be done if the stories take place before New Jedi Order.

Mara Jade Skywalker would also be in the picture then.

I definitely would like the new movies to have Mara Jade. Personally, the Fate of the Jedi Series would be a perfect storyline for the new trilogy, even if they change most of it. One twin falls to the dark side. The emotional drain of having to destroy your twin.

Nowhere in your incoherent ramblings did you come anywhere close to the answer. Thanks to you, everyone in this room is now stupider having heard you. I award you no points and may God have mercy on your soul. -Billy Madison-

That is NOT to say they will discount the books. There are plenty of gaps during years that haven't been explored, as well as stories set DURING some of the book eras that have not been told (like Fate of the Jedi).

Now I REALLY want to see Jaina, and a strong female Jedi in the movies would be a cool change (Lara Croft, Salt, Katniss Everdeen) but Allanah Solo, still too young, is perfect to develop into that role.

Ben Skywalker is the right age and has the right family name to carry this next trilogy though.

I think Jaina can be in it, but won't necessarily be the focal point, yet be one of the new "Big 3 or so."

Jaina
Ben
Allanah

Mara dies before Jacen does. Having either of those two in the film is a distraction, especially IF Disney DOES keep the continuity.

When Anakin fell to the Dark Side and became Darth Vader, we didn't know exactly how it happened. But in terms of Jacen's fall to become Darth Caedus, we know about Vergere, his torture as a prisoner of war with the Yuuzhan Vong, his alliance with Luminaya and her agenda against Luke, as well as Jacen's fear for his wife Tenel Ka and his daugher Allanah Solo.

Jacen / Darth Caedus is a moot character now (though he's great in the books).

I like how Jaina is damaged, having to kill her own brother. It lends a lot of depth to her character and also illustrates why she might find appeal in a more martial, ordered society like that offered by the Imperial Remnant under the Knights - and what she eventually co-ops with her romance with Jagged Fel.

I think there could be some people that want this thrown out because they won't want to either go back and read this information in the novels it was presented in, or they don't want to ask questions of those of us who did, and find themselves satisfied with the answers.

But I agree that everyone knows about Mara Jade, because Heir to the Empire was once thought to be Episode 7 and almost everyone read that. Regardless of whether she has been murdered or not by the time Episode 7 takes place, she is Ben Skywalker's mother.

George Lucas said that the new trilogy will focus on Luke training a new apprentice. If the apprentice is his son, then that will be Ben Skywalker. Jaina at 32 ought to be a Jedi Knight by then for certain.

Ben will be in his mid-to-upper teenage years like Anakin in AOTC.

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Hey, Vader was supposed to be, what, 50+/60+ in ROJ (with Obi-Wan even older: 70+?)? That got thrown out the viewport for TPM. Age ain't nothin' but a number. Lucas included some EU details in the PT films (Coruscant, Aayla, Quinlan), so Disney might do so, too; but it's THEIR baby now, so they can raise/spoil/neglect/indoctrinate it as they wish.

Does anyone know where to find information on how many copies the EU books sell? I have a hard time believing it's the "majority" of the fandom that reads them. I consider myself a huge Star Wars fan and have always disliked the post-ROTJ EU and never had any attachment to any of the characters introduced in those novels.

If the new trilogy accepts the EU as canon - which it absolutely will not, but just for the sake of argument - there is simply too much for the general audience to catch up on, or for the film to recap, to make that a viable option. If there were one or two books to help fill in the gaps, that would be one thing, but even just to get the stories of Jacen, Jaina, and Anakin as adults, we're talking 19 New Jedi Order books, nine Legacy of the Force books, and nine Fate of the Jedi books, which is a hell of a lot. Even if the characters shared the EU names, they'd be portrayed completely differently and have a different backstory.

Well, if it's not a hardcover, it seldom reaches any top-seller lists. I have read everything since the 1993-ish era (end of Thrawn Trilogy) and have actually bought them (usually waiting for the paperback to purchase), too. JJL, sadly you are probably right, on just how many fans read them.

Even if the characters shared the EU names, they'd be portrayed completely differently and have a different backstory.

I'm okay with this. The names, to me, are the important part. Backstory changes are going to happen, I understand this, and resigned to it. But any name they pull out of thin air means nothing compared to Jaina, Jacen, and Mara. For people who were able to watch the originals in the theaters in the early 80's, the Thrawn trilogy kept our interest up. The Thrawn trilogy was on the best sellers list and introduced Jaina, Jacen, and Mara. For the record, it sold over 15 million copies and was voted one of the top 100 science fiction novels of all time. In fact, many believe, including Michael Kaminski, that the popularity of the Thrawn trilogy was one of the reasons Lucas decided to go ahead with the Prequel Trilogy.

I understand you don't like the post ROTJ EU stories, but I'm willing to bet, more people than you realized have read them. And for those that haven't, what matter is it to them if they do use Mara, Jaina and Jacen? These names have no meaning to you just the same as if they were named Ed, Reta, and Sasha. What would it hurt to have Lukes wife be Mara; Han and Leia kids be Jacen and Jaina? It doesn't affect non-EU readers at all, and has a very positive affect on those that follow the EU.

Nowhere in your incoherent ramblings did you come anywhere close to the answer. Thanks to you, everyone in this room is now stupider having heard you. I award you no points and may God have mercy on your soul. -Billy Madison-

This may have been said already, but with the sale of Lucasfilm to Disney, it just doesn't seem right that it be referred to as Lucasfilm. So unless I am a couple months late and this has already been proclaimed, I will be referring to it as Lucas(less)film from hence forth.

I'm okay with this. The names, to me, are the important part. Backstory changes are going to happen, I understand this, and resigned to it. But any name they pull out of thin air means nothing compared to Jaina, Jacen, and Mara. For people who were able to watch the originals in the theaters in the early 80's, the Thrawn trilogy kept our interest up. The Thrawn trilogy was on the best sellers list and introduced Jaina, Jacen, and Mara. For the record, it sold over 15 million copies and was voted one of the top 100 science fiction novels of all time. In fact, many believe, including Michael Kaminski, that the popularity of the Thrawn trilogy was one of the reasons Lucas decided to go ahead with the Prequel Trilogy.

I understand you don't like the post ROTJ EU stories, but I'm willing to bet, more people than you realized have read them. And for those that haven't, what matter is it to them if they do use Mara, Jaina and Jacen? These names have no meaning to you just the same as if they were named Ed, Reta, and Sasha. What would it hurt to have Lukes wife be Mara; Han and Leia kids be Jacen and Jaina? It doesn't affect non-EU readers at all, and has a very positive affect on those that follow the EU.

I'm interested to see if Luke will have a wife or children at all. Mara and Ben were both created before AOTC instituted the "no personal attachments" rule for the Jedi. Anakin's personal attachments turned to greed and led to his downfall, while Luke's compassion for his father was what brought him back to the Light Side - but at the same time, Vader was playing on Luke's connection to Leia and Luke flipped out, as Vader wanted, showing that it's still a difficult balance to maintain. So even though Luke is more compassionate than previous Jedi, I doubt that they're going to give him a relationship or marriage since the negative consequences were such a big part of the prequel storyline.

I'm sure the Thrawn trilogy sold very well, but I just honestly don't know how the NJO or FOTJ books do by comparison (or really any other EU books). I really don't know, but I'm assuming it's far fewer people than have seen the films. I do know that the Thrawn trilogy is often held up as the pinnacle of the EU, and that even Timothy Zahn's follow-up efforts haven't been quite as well received - keep in mind that the Thrawn books came out 20 years ago and nothing has really reached their widespread popularity since then (from what I've seen, and I could be wrong - that's just how it looks to me).

The reactions I've seen online regarding the EU and its use in the new trilogy run the gamut from "NO EU AT ALL!!!" to "THE EU MUST BE TAKEN AS SACRED GOSPEL!!!" There's simply no pleasing everyone.

Any characters in the films that have names taken from EU simply won't be the same characters that EU fans grown to love. They might have the names, but they won't have the same personalities or backstories, as you've acknowledged. But isn't that what endeared them to EU fans in the first place? I'm not sure why the names are important but nothing else is - many EU fans hated the fact that Death Watch, Nightsisters, and other EU aspects existed in The Clone Wars when they had the same names but were portrayed differently. The show's creators saw it as a fun nod, while some fans saw it as blasphemy - far from a "positive effect."

I wouldn't have a problem with them using names like Jaina, Jacen, and Mara; but give us a proper onscreen setup up for those characters and don't just assume that people have read the books. If that requires the screenwriters to completely rewrite their backstories, then so be it. Also, with as dumb as filmmakers generally believe audiences to be, I highly doubt that we will see names like "Ben" or "Anakin" re-used for new characters in the ST. In fact, isn't that why Lucas made them kill off Anakin Solo or Ben Skywalker (I can't remember which)?

I'm pretty sure the new movies are going to mine the existing EU for some inspiration, but that's about as far as they will go. As long as we never get a clone-Emperor or a clone-Luuke, then I'm fine with that as well.

I'm sure Heir to the Empire sold really well... 22 years ago; but I think that was mainly because it was introduced into a starving market that hadn't had any new Star Wars media for 6-7 years (outside of tabletop RPGs, which are always going to be an extreme niche market). So, the book naturally reached bestseller status, but I don't think the Thrawn trilogy ever reached worldwide phenomenon status. At least not in the way that more recent non-SW book series' have (for example, the Harry Potter books, the Twilight Saga, etc.).

So, I don't really see why the filmmakers should feel obligated to stay faithful to those books in any way whatsoever.

For the record, I bought Heir to the Empire as soon as it came out in bookstores in 1991, but I never really got around to reading it until 2001. By then I had given the HC to my brother and had to borrow a paperback copy to read. I only got about halfway through the book and I lost interest. There just wasn't really a whole lot going on there for me. I have enjoyed other EU books in the past, namely the two Han Solo trilogies and Shadows of the Empire, but for the most part I don't see anything that I feel the filmmakers "must" adhere to.

As much as I liked the Han Solo novels, I'm resigned to the fact that very little from those books are going to make it into the Han Solo standalone movie. And I'm fine with that, because this way if the movie turns out to be absolute crap, then I can just ignore it. I think the casting of young Han Solo is what will make or break the solo-Solo movie for me. If they pick some typical, teenaged, heartthrob actor who looks pretty on camera, but has absolutely no screen presence, then I probably won't even give the movie a chance.

For the Boba Fett movie, I'm actually hoping that they do a little bit of contradicting of the Prequels and just recast Boba completely. Is there any word at all on if they are approaching Temuera Morrison for the standalone Boba Fett movie?

So, I guess I'm saying that, not only do I want them to toss out the EU, but I wouldn't mind if they expelled the Prequels from the Star Wars continuity as well.

"To be concerned about being grown up, to admire the grown up because it is grown up, to blush at the suspicion of being childish; these things are the marks of childhood and adolescence… When I became a man I put away childish things, including the fear of childishness and the desire to be very grown up." - C.S. Lewis

As much as I liked the Han Solo novels, I'm resigned to the fact that very little from those books are going to make it into the Han Solo standalone movie. And I'm fine with that, because this way if the movie turns out to be absolute crap, then I can just ignore it. I think the casting of young Han Solo is what will make or break the solo-Solo movie for me. If they pick some typical, teenaged, heartthrob actor who looks pretty on camera, but has absolutely no screen presence, then I probably won't even give the movie a chance.

For the Boba Fett movie, I'm actually hoping that they do a little bit of contradicting of the Prequels and just recast Boba completely. Is there any word at all on if they are approaching Temuera Morrison for the standalone Boba Fett movie?

There hasn't even been any official word on what the standalone films will cover, let alone casting news. But Daniel Logan and Temuera Morrison have both expressed interest in acting in any of the new movies (and Daniel played Boba on TCW, so he's on their radar). I saw a recent interview where Temuera got some obvious-looking veneers or dental implants or something that they'll hopefully take care of before he reprises any roles.